1 82 MODE OF REPRODUCTION. 



in truth, they could not do so, for they are not furnished with 

 a proboscis. Warlike as the Amazons, the only portion of 

 the female sex they can justly be said to resemble, they 

 hover in the air to pounce, like vultures, upon whatever 

 insects may come within their reach; they quickly transfix, 

 and as quickly devour them. If they love to fly about the 

 pools, the marshes, and the streams, it is because they are 

 sure of prey in these localities. And, in fact, they there 

 encounter and devour an innumerable quantity of flies, moths, 

 gnats, and the like. 



But there is another reason why the Dragon-flies, obeying 

 the secret impulse of nature, resort to the haunts we have 

 been describing. They were their cradles or nurseries, and 

 they become, in due time, the scenes of their espousals. 



Before speaking of the singular metamorphosis they after- 

 wards accomplish, we must touch lightly on the subject of the 

 mode of reproduction of our brilliant demoiselles. 



It is laid down as a law that, in the insect world, the males 

 are invariably smaller or weaker than the females. Yet this 

 law does not hold good with reference to the Libellulae, whose 

 males are, on the contrary, larger and stronger than their 

 females. Man may lay down laws, and extort obedience to 

 them, within his own domain ; but nature laughs at human 

 rules, and gives up her secrets only to the free thought, un- 

 shackled by the fetters of authority. 



But why is the male Dragon-fly stronger than the female ? 



